Video of The Story Prize event: Winner André Alexis and finalists Lydia Millet and Ayşegül Savaş

 Here's the video from the March 31, 2026, Story Prize event:

What the Judges had to say about the winner of The Story Prize, OTHER WORLDS by André Alexis

photo © Nathalie Schueller

When the three judges for The Story Prize make their choices, they write citations for their top choices. This year's judges were writer and copyeditor Benjamin Dreyer, writer and past winner of The Story Prize Ling Ma, and librarian Stephen Sposato. We include the citations in congratulatory letters we present to each finalist, along with their checks ($20,000 to the winner, $5,000 to the other two finalists). To protect the confidentiality of the judges' votes and the integrity of the process, we don't attribute citations to any particular judge. Here's what the judges had to say about winner Other Worlds by André Alexis.

“Other Worlds so seamlessly traverses the boundaries of time, of nationality, and of genre that such boundaries seem diaphanous. This fleet-footed collection is both rooted in oral and literary traditions and yet entirely contemporary. Being many things at once, full of sly innovations, and quietly upending of conventions, Other Worlds is wholly original and wholly itself. It is also very funny.” 

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“The stories in André Alexis’s Other Worlds are enthralling in their variety (of geographical setting, of period, of theme; some profoundly intimate, others wide-ranging) and elegance, haunting and haunted, often mystically—indeed and as promised in the collection's title—otherworldly and yet very much grounded in our own actual, solid world. Some of the stories focus with great precision on issues of class, race, and culture; all of them aim for and achieve a humane universality. And for those of us who thrive on plot, suspense, and surprise, those are all in abundance here as well. 

“I began reading each story—of a young woman's chance encounter with a fabled painter whose connection to her own history might be of even more paramount importance than she suspects; of a writer who takes on a job as a kind of custodian to a mystifyingly unnerving town; of, even, a talking horse (this one nearly broke me)—thinking ‘I can't imagine where this is going to go’ and then following along delightedly (though often anxiously, in the best possible way) as Alexis confidently guided me. 

“I particularly enjoyed this collection on a sentence by sentence basis: There's a kind of gossamer lightness to Alexis's prose, a seeming effortlessness, but as I reread passages, which I found myself doing frequently, I appreciated all the more the erudition and the gorgeous construction.”

What The Story Prize judges had to say about LONG DISTANCE by finalist Ayşegül Savaş

Photo © Nathalie Schueller

When the three judges for The Story Prize vote for the winner of the award, they write citations for their top choices. This year's judges were writer and copyeditor Benjamin Dreyer, writer and past winner of The Story Prize Ling Ma, and Chicago librarian Stephen Sposato. We include the citations in congratulatory letters we present to each finalist, along with their checks ($20,000 to the winner, $5,000 to the other two finalists). To protect the confidentiality of the judges' votes and the integrity of the process, we don't attribute citations to any particular judge. Here's what the judges had to say about Long Distance by finalist Ayşegül Savaş: 

“Across thirteen subtle and captivating stories, Long Distance masterfully explores the dislocations and disruptions of the modern world, from the macro level of war and immigration to the intimate twists and shadows of the human heart. Savaş patiently tests her characters, probing their relationships to friends, family, lovers, colleagues, hosts, servants, and strangers alike, revealing the initial moments of cultural and moral fissure that crack open between them. Empathetic and clear-eyed, these masterful, gracefully written stories portray characters grappling with the unexpected decisions that will define their lives.” 

What The Story Prize judges had to say about ATAVISTS by finalist Lydia Millet

Photo © Nathalie Schueller

When the three judges for The Story Prize vote for the winner of the award, they write citations for their top choices. This year's judges were writer and copyeditor Benjamin Dreyer, writer and past winner of The Story Prize Ling Ma, and Chicago librarian Stephen Sposato. We include the citations in congratulatory letters we present to each finalist, along with their checks ($20,000 to the winner, $5,000 to the other two finalists). To protect the confidentiality of the judges' votes and the integrity of the process, we don't attribute citations to any particular judge. Here's what the judges had to say about Atavists by Story Prize finalist Lydia Millet:  

“Atavists is brilliantly constructed, with stories that not only intricately connect a web of common characters but also advance a satisfying chronological narrative. With great skill, Millet both pokes fun at her characters and evokes tender feelings toward them, revealing the essential truth that we are as much defined by our flaws—and our acceptance of the flaws of those around us—as by our aspirations and accomplishments. Even the titles are clever, each reflecting an ‘ism’ specific to the point-of-view character. Though the deftly written stories in Atavists are humorous in tone, they also explore serious contemporary issues, without shrinking away from the ominous, near certain repercussions in the not-too-distant future. And yet, the final, well-earned ism remains a hopeful one.”

The 22nd Winner of The Story Prize is OTHER WORLDS by André Alexis!

Photo © Nathalie Scheuller

The winner of The Story Prize for books published in 2025 is André Alexis for Other Worlds (FSG Originals). The other finalists were Lydia Millet for Atavists (W.W. Norton & Company) and Ayşegül Savaş for Long Distance (Bloomsbury Publishing). The Story Prize’s $20,000 top prize is among the largest first-prize amounts of any annual U.S. book award for fiction. As runners-up, Millet and Savaş each received $5,000. 

Other Worlds is is Alexis’s second short story collection. Among his other publications are the five novels of his Quincunx series, published by Coach House Books in Toronto. He has also won Canada’s Giller Prize and Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and is the recipient of the Windham-Campbell prize in fiction. 

Director Larry Dark and Founder Julie Lindsey selected the three finalists for The Story Prize, now in its 22nd year, from among 114 short story collections published in 2025, representing 72 different publishers or imprints. Three judges—writer and copyeditor Benjamin Dreyer; writer and past Story Prize winner Ling Ma, and Chicago librarian Stephen Sposato—determined the winner from among the three books chosen as finalists.

The Story Prize Longlist for Collections Published in 2025

In 2025, The Story Prize received as entries 114 books published by 72 different publishers or imprints. Unlike most other books awards, we release our longlist after we announce our shortlist of three finalists. These sixteen books, plus the three finalists and The Story Prize Spotlight Award winner (Trying to Be by John Haskell), combine to highlight 20 short story collections. Here are the books on our longlist: 

• The Words of Dr. L. by Karen E. Bender (Counterpoint)
• Exit Zero by Marie-Helene Bertino (FSG Originals)
• Whites By Mark Doten (Graywolf Press)
• A Love Story From the End of the World by Juhea Kim (Ecco)
• Save Me Stranger by Erika Krouse (Flatiron Books)
• Guatemalan Rhapsody by Jared Lemus (Ecco)
• Code Noir by Canisia Lubrin (Soft Skull)
• Make Your Way Home by Carrie R. Moore (Tin House)
• Open Up by Thomas Morris (The Unnamed Press)
• Are You Happy? by Lori Ostlund (Astra House)
• Waiting for the Long Night Moon by Amanda Peters (Catapult)
• Stag Dance by Torrey Peters  (Random House)
• Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld (Random House)
• Small Scale Sinners by Mahreen Sohail (A Public Space)
• Portalmania by Debbie Urbanski (Simon & Schuster)
• The Pelican Child by Joy Williams (Alfred A. Knopf)

As we always say (and truly believe), anyone who writes and publishes a short story collection has overcome significant obstacles, has accomplished something noteworthy, and deserves enormous credit. As always, we received more worthwhile short story collections than we could possibly mention without making our longlist too long to be meaningful. We encourage readers to explore the full list of 2025 collections entered for The Story Prize on Bookshop.org.

We'll announce the 22nd winner of The Story Prize on March 31 at a private event featuring readings by and interviews with the three finalists—André Alexis, Lydia Millet, and Ayşegül Savaş. Before then, we'll provide a link to watch the program live or online in the days that follow the announcement of the winner.

Trying to Be by John Haskell is the winner of The Story Prize Spotlight Award for books published in 2025

In addition to naming three finalists each year, we also present The Story Prize Spotlight Award to a collection of exceptional merit. Selected books can be promising works by first-time authors, collections in alternative formats, or works that demonstrate an unusual perspective on the writer's craft. The award includes a prize of $1,000. 

Trying to Be by John Haskell (FC2) is the 14th winner of The Story Prize Spotlight Award. Chosen from among the 114 books we received as entries in 2025, this slender collection of nine stories walks the line between the essay and the short story, exploring aspects both of trying and being through the lenses of painting, film, dance, and both public and private histories. Touchstones include painters Francis Bacon and Diego Velasquez, German radical and journalist Ulrike Meinhof, dancer and choreographer Yvonne Rainer, actor Danny Kaye, the author's Aunt Dot, and characters in films such as Blow-Up and Five Miles to Midnight. 

John Haskell’s other books include I Am Not Jackson Pollock, American Purgatorio, Out of My Skin, and The Complete Ballet, a fictional essay. He has been a performer and playwright, written artist catalogues, and contributed to books. His fiction and nonfiction pieces have appeared in numerous publications, including Harper’s, Conjunctions, The Baffler, and The Yale Review. He is a contributing editor at BOMB and A Public Space, and has performed on the radio shows The Next Big Thing and Studio 360. His awards include a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship and several NYFA grants, and he’s taught writing and literature around the world. Trying to Be was the 2025 winner of FC2's Catherine Doctorow Innovative Fiction Prize.

The 13 previous winners of The Story Prize Spotlight Award were: Drifting House by Krys Lee, Byzantium by Ben Stroud, Praying Drunk by Kyle Minor, Killing and Dying by Adrian Tomine, Him, Me, Muhammad Ali by Randa Jarrar, Subcortical by Lee Conell, Half Gods by Akil Kumarasamy, The Trojan War Museum by Ayşe Papatya Bucak, Inheritors by Asako Serizawa, Born Into This by Adam Thompson, God's Children Are Little Broken Things by Arinze Ifeakandu, The Goth House Experiment by SJ Sindu, and, most recently, The History of Sound by Ben Shattuck. 

You can find links to all fourteen books, including Haskell's, on Bookshop, in the list Winners of The Story Prize Spotlight Award. And you can also find Trying to Be on the list The Story Prize: 2025 collections received.

We'll announce the winner of The Story Prize on March 31 at a private event, which we'll live stream, featuring readings by and interviews with the three finalists: Other Worlds by André Alexis, Atavists by Lydia Millet, and Other Worlds by Ayşegül Savaş. And soon we'll post a long list of additional short story collections published in 2025.

The 2024/25 Story Prize Finalists Are André Alexis, Lydia Millet, and Ayşegül Savaş

The Story Prize, now in its 22nd year, is pleased to honor as its finalists three outstanding short story collections chosen from 114 submissions representing 72 different publishers or imprints. 

• Other Worlds by André Alexis (FSG Originals)
• Atavists by Lydia Millet (W.W. Norton)
• Long Distance by Ayşegül Savaş (Bloomsbury)

Other Worlds employs fanciful and formally inventive narratives to deftly explore issues of culture, race, sex, and class. Atavists charts a constellation of characters in a Los Angeles-area town, delineating contemporary anxieties, ambitions, and mores with a cool but sympathetic eye. The elegant stories in Long Distance—set in locales such as Paris, Rome, Istanbul, and Marseilles—subtly and poignantly depict the inner lives of characters struggling with displacement despite having chosen it.

We'll announce the winner of The Story Prize on the evening of Tuesday, March 31, at a private event featuring readings by and interviews with finalists Alexis, Millet, and Savaş. The winner will receive the top prize of $20,000 and an engraved silver bowl. The runners-up will each receive $5,000. We will live-stream the event starting at 7:30 p.m. and will post a link before then and the final video in the days that follow. 

Story Prize Founder Julie Lindsey and Director Larry Dark selected the finalists. These three independent judges will determine the winner:

• Writer and copyeditor Benjamin Dreyer;
• Writer and past Story Prize winner Ling Ma; and
• Librarian Stephen Sposato.

In the weeks ahead, we'll announce this year's winner of The Story Prize Spotlight Award. We'll also publish a longlist of other exceptional collections we read last year. You can find a complete list of the story collections we received in 2025 on Bookshop.org.